


Rise of the Phoenix

by teal_bandit



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Gen, He gets better, Wanda Maximoff/Vision (mentioned) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 00:59:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teal_bandit/pseuds/teal_bandit
Summary: Pietro is possessed by the elder god Chthon, who manipulates him like a puppet on a string. After those ties are severed, the Avengers' resident speedster gets a second chance with an opposing, but equally powerful force.





	Rise of the Phoenix

Pietro didn’t see it coming.

He remembered feeling his blood surge like it was running on electricity, then he was outside of himself–watching from behind.

He tried to shout, swear, and claw his way back into his body, but the entity possessing it didn’t budge. He could only follow dejectedly as his body ran towards the Avenger’s mansion, where his sister and their companions were.

'You’ll do perfectly,' came a rumbling voice, 'for now.'

Blue eyes widened. He recognized that voice: Chthon.

Words couldn’t begin to describe how deeply Pietro’s hatred for that demon ran. The benefactor of his family’s magical forces, the scourge of his sister’s psyche. How many times had it possessed Wanda? Forced her to hurt her friends? To hurt him? In how many ways had he changed her from the kind-hearted, compassionate young girl he had grown up with into what she is now?

'Not as many as you seem to think, child,' the demon churled, 'I’ve only shown her what she is capable of. Having access to my power has changed her, yes, but your sister is not the saint you think she is.'

In a flash, Pietro saw, as if looking from his sister’s eyes, scenes from his life and the lives of his fellow Avengers. He saw how she used her words and actions to manipulate others–and also to manipulate herself. He saw his own reactions to her; telling him that he chose to join the Avengers to whom they were now obligated, that he should be happy for her mysterious pregnancy at the hands of her synthezoid husband, that she would break his legs if he broke Crystal’s heart despite knowing her actions against him, that he’s a socioopath, that he uses her, that his ego blinds him from seeing the truth. He saw the apathy she bore in leaving him alone after M-Day.

'No,' he thought, looking ahead at where his possessed body was standing–surrounded by the destroyed remains of the mansion. 'My sister would never be that–'

'That cruel,' Chthon mocked, 'of course not. Or did you not notice how little she actually thinks about you?'

Pietro blanched. It was true, his sister’s mind had been elsewhere many of the times he had seen of her interactions with him–she was often thinking of herself or of their father, and when she had been thinking directly of him, he could see that her intent had been to hurt him; to get him to leave because she didn’t want him there. 

If he had been in his own body, he would have been sick.

“You have no claim on my brother, demon,” Wanda shouted, “Let him go!”

Pietro’s head shot back as he laughed mercilessly “I have just as much claim on him as you, wench! But it’s not him I want. You’ve escaped my grasp for the last time and I intend to break you for it.”

Wanda readied herself for whatever Chthon was preparing for her; however, she couldn’t prepare herself for the overwhelming wave of despair she felt washing over her–over her friends, making them sick. She gasped for breath. That felt real, she realized, and it’s come from someone else.

She looked up at her brother’s possessed form, horrified. “What have you done to him,” she whispered.

“I’ve only shown him the truth,” he grinned, “I’ve shown him what a cruel, selfish little girl you are.”

Wanda’s face hardened. “You’re lying. You’re a fable-spinner and a truth-cleaver, now tell me what you’ve don—”

“YOU’RE A TERRIBLE SISTER, WANDA, “ the demon shrieked, breaking what remained of the glass from the first-story windows. “And now he knows it. You’ve never cared for him as much as he’s cared for you. He sees you for what you are now, and it’s destroyed him. He’ll never look at you the same again.”

The witch swallowed thickly. She felt her knees getting weaker and her hands going numb. She steeled herself for one final attempt of getting the demon out of her brother without hurting him. “Chthon,” she began voice wavering, betraying the tears in her eyes, “let my brother go. Leave him now.”

The demon’s laughter began slowly and rised until it was all Wanda or the others could hear. “I’ll let him go,” he snarled, picking up a shard of glass, “permanently.” With one movement, scarcely slow enough for Wanda to see, the demon plunged the glass into his host’s neck and ripped sideways, tearing through vein and muscle. The slim body fell to the ground, blood burbling from the wound.

Wanda screamed out for her brother, rushing over to him, but it was too late. She sobbed and cradled his lifeless body in her arms, rocking back and forth. 

The rest of her teammates–people they both had known and trusted for years–stood back, choosing to let her grieve by herself. Some were in shock;they had known the twins for over a decade and cared deeply for them. Others were afraid of what Wanda would do if they approached her, remembering the last time she had lost a loved one.

\----------

It was dark.

Pietro took a few steps forward, trying to gauge his surroundings, but couldn’t make out anything that would indicate where he was, if he were anywhere. His head felt light–he didn’t know what to think or how to feel. He remembered all that Chthon had showed him, yet some part of him still didn’t want to believe it. The demon had lied to them about their father, certainly he could have lied about his sister. But he remembered, also, how real seeing through Wanda’s eyes had seemed and wondered, hesitantly, just how much of it was true and how much was false.

As he stood in the darkness, wondering, there came a faint glow from beside him. He blinked, eyes trying to adjust to the sudden light source.

'Pietro Maximoff,' a voice whispered beside him, 'You have been chosen.'

“Chosen,” he questioned, turning to the source of the light and voice. He gasped. 

“Wanda,” Jericho started, kneeling down beside his friend-turned-lover, “he’s passed on. You must let him go.” He indicated toward her brother’s corpse with his head, gently rubbing her back, weaving a soothing spell into his hands to calm her.

She shook her head, moving a clump of dark brown curls away from her reddened eyes. “How can I just let go, Jericho? He died hating me and thinking that I never cared about him.”

“Chthon lied to him to make him think those things,” he assured, “death is a temporary relief for many of our kind; he’ll return. And when he does, surely he will realize that.”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, tears welling in her eyes again. “Not with how many times I’ve hurt him and for as little as I’ve been there for him over the past few years. Did you know he tried to end his life before? Right after M-Day. He was there for me when I was that hopeless and where was I? In Latveria. Not even realizing that I had ever had a brother.” She sobbed, shoulders shaking as she buried her face into Doctor Voodoo’s neck.

The sorcerer shook his head; she shouldn’t be blaming herself for that–she wasn’t in her right mind. Pietro had obviously forgiven her for it, or was so relieved by the fact that she was alive and well that he no longer cared. He looked down at where the speedster’s body lay. In his mind’s eye, he saw a light rising from where his heart was. Jericho started–the light was growing, to the point where it was visible without any magical sight.

At the moment that Wanda turned to see what had startled Voodoo so, Pietro’s body burst into flame.

“Pietro,” Wanda whimpered, looking up at her brother’s body, now covered in blue and silver flames. The blaze shot out and around him to create the form of a large bird.

“Hear me, Avengers! No longer am I the man you knew,” came a voice from within the flame,”I am Fire! And Life Incarnate! Now and Forever! I AM PHOENIX!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little drabble about how I think the Phoenix AU could have started. This whole AU started out as an art piece where Pietro gets possessed by the Phoenix. I didn't expect thee AU to get as much traction as it did, but I'm glad people like it. I've always sort of wondered what it would be like if Pietro got a power source that was comparable to Wanda's; how it would change him as a hero and as a person.


End file.
